Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery

I like Bristol. A lot! I've been there a few times and have only had fun. Of course, I had been fortunate to be there covering Bristol's fantastic art scene. My last visit was to check out the opening of Art from the New World, a huge exhibition at the City Museum and Art Gallery featuring works by 49 of America's edgiest contemporary artists.

The venue was great. I mean, any museum with a work by Banksy as part of its permanent collection is pretty cool, right? Situated in an Edwardian Baroque building with a range of objects from dinosaurs to classic works of art, Bristol's City Museum & Art Gallery provided plenty of space for the opening night crowd and for the roving humans-as-installation-pieces created by LA artist Gary Baseman. Massive works, particularly Buff Monster's Installation for Art from the New World, were allowed the breathing room to wow viewers – and the space for said viewers to see such pieces with proper perspective.

The museum is located atop Queen's Road in the city centre. Spend any amount of time in Bristol and you'll inevitably come across it. When you do, pop your head in. You'll be glad you did.

More about the Art from the New World show:
http://whitehotmagazine.com/articles/world-city-museum-ar...
http://www.juxtapoz.com/Current/a-look-at-the-art-from-br...

Went to see the Banksy exhibition and it was fab, very clever and witty.

5 Stars even thought the Que was so very very long (but worth the wait and it was free to get in :)

Banksy has taken over the Bristol City Museum and is causing hour long queues … we stood in the rain for almost two and spent the same time again inside.
It’s a unique project and well worth a visit - it all ends at the end of August.
Still, it’s not the same as seeing great street art in the street, or coming across a guerilla exhibition (I was lucky enough to see a Banksy installation amongst rats in Westbourne Grove a few years ago). Also not sure if you can actually call this art; a lot of it is rather predictable and silly. And then again you come across a few little surprises.
It is free to get in, but I am sure they will raise a lot of funds selling postcards and posters. It’s a shame they didn’t produce a catalogue and leave the books to the commercial outfits all over town.
Go see, before it’s gone! I suppose afterwards the museum will revert back to being a very average natural history museum.

Good place for free history

The Bristol museum is a great place to while away some time. It’s free to get in which is great because if there is nothing new for you to see you haven’t lost any money by going in to have a look. They have some really interesting exhibitions and the annual wildlife photography exhibit is a real highlight for me. A lot of the content doesn’t change so once you’ve seen it, you’ve seen it but nevertheless there is lots to look at here. I don’t have children personally but the place seems very child-friendly and often has signs outside advertising things for children and families to do there. There is a cafe where you can grab a coffee and i love looking at the old portraits upstairs of Bristol scenes. There is lots of natural history and wildlife stuff too including a local wildlife section. A great place to have available.

The museum is friendly and approachable. I have been to two or three exhibitions and their collections were quite impressive. They often host childrens’ activities and displays, lots of interactive stuff during the holidays and most things are free. The building is wonderful and old although I don’t know much about architecture. The location is very local right at the top of park street. I would recommend it as an essential stop for a bit of culture in Bristol.

It’s free, which is always nice, and is a good place to take the kids for an hour or so. The museum is split over several floors, If you have a pushchair, there is a lift, but you have to find a member of staff to operate it for you, which gets old very quickly when you realise there’s 3-4 floors.
The revamped Egypt section, but seems to be smaller than the old one, there is lots of natural history.
the annual wildlife photography exhibition is always worth seeing.

A great museum that is stuffed full of interesting exhibits and wonderful art. There is an emphasis on natural history with geological displays, dinosaur bones and a lot of taxidermy on offer but expect to find other treasures like a gypsy caravan, a big jewellery collection and the newly revamped Egypt galleries.

It makes for a great free place to take children. The cafe is great value as well.

There’s a huge number of things to do in Bristol Museum. The art gallery is fantastic, along with the various animals and birds on display with a great section devoted to dinosaurs and an impressive new egyptology department with thousands of ancient artifacts and statues from the period.

It’s a great place to visit with kids, and despite what other reviewers may have said there’s a lot of facilities where children can learn. Just as you enter there’s an interactive facility where museum staff teach children various historical things depending on the theme of that particular month, and its great to see the all the families visiting and having a great time.

Bristol City Museum, to me, is one of my favourite places from my childhood and I’d like to think that if and when I’m lucky enough to have children I’d like to introduce them to history just like my parents did, which is right here.

This is a grest museum although i dont feel that theres much for the kids to do here. There are some fantastic local history displays and i love the crockery collections there is also a fantastic dinosour display

I’ve been going here for as long as I can remember. Particularly loved the gipsy caravan and Egyptian mummies. Great for adults and totally awesome for kids, there’s everything, rocks, dinosaurs, butterflies, fish, lions, birds and lots of buttons to press. Great afternoon for anyone. The art gallery is well laid out and has a constant flow of quality work hung all throughout the year.

Beautiful old style museum. Boys had a great afternoon here. Tea room lovely too.

Worth visiting for the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibitions.

Free museums can so often be disappointing- look at what has happened to the Science Museum in London since it is has become a free museum. The City Museum in Bristol is fantastic, not a disappointment at all. In recet months the museum has housed the infamous Rolf Harris portrait of the Queen and the Love exhibition with painting from such ‘legends’ as Raphael and Tracey Emin- both very different sides of the art spectrum. Even if you have a spare ten minutes, go inside and look at the permanent and temporary exhibtions, even the building itself is a real splendour.

What can I say about the City Museum? It's just like any other museum really. At this point my boyfriend is sniggering at me because of the description (I can't type so use voice recognition software... disconcerting when someone else is in the room!) But I'm really not sure what else to say. It's a lot of old stuff in one building.

The council website for it says that it has been awarded designated status, which apparently means that it's outstanding. So that's a good thing. It's got all the usual exhibits - the Egyptian one is my favourite but is closed at the moment, and it has a nifty section on animals that live in the surrounding countryside of Bristol. Rock on.

Bristol’s Art museum perched on the busy street called Queen’s Road is a hidden gem. Small yet bursting with paintings & artefacts, a trip here should please art enthusiasts who like cosy and intimate settings. Entry is free and the museum is open 7 days a week!

This is an art gallery and museum alongside each other and both offer FREE entry! Child friendly with monthly interactive workshops for 5-12yr old kids also with a permanent childrens trail in the Art gallery, and a play area in the world wildlife room. There are exhibits on eygptology, natural history, ceramics, fossils and beautiful minerals.

The City Museum and Art Gallery is a really good day out for all the family. Theres enough here to keep everyone entertained along with a smart cafe and gift shop.

They normally have a travelling exhibition showing, these have included Wildlife Photographer of the Year, along with many other prestigious exhibitions. Well worth a visit!